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Dejounte Murray Rumors
Yossi Gozlan: The Atlanta Hawks preserve their $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception by sign and trading for Nickeil Alexander-Walker. They are $18.5 million below the luxury tax, so they could use the full amount. Alexander-Walker goes into the Dejounte Murray trade exception.
Joe Dumars: He and I had a really good conversation. We talked the next morning. I asked him, ‘Tell me what’s happening,’ and we had a good, long talk. It won’t be a problem this year. And sometimes, when things like that happen, it’s an opportunity—an opportunity to get better as an organization. I called in the medical staff and said, ‘Let’s talk about DeJounte’s interview. What part of this can we get better at?’ I’ve been in the league long enough to know: you don’t bury your head. You tackle it head-on. I said, ‘Okay, DeJounte, talk to me—what’s happening?’ Then I turned to the medical staff: ‘Talk to me—what’s going on? Why is he saying this? What’s behind it?’ You deal with it directly. You don’t duck it. You don’t run from it."*
The NBA had already convened a panel of experts to study Achilles tendon injuries even before Indiana star Tyrese Haliburton ruptured his in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday night. The league had seven known Achilles injuries this season - Pacers forwards James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson, New Orleans guard Dejounte Murray and Miami guard Dru Smith had them in the regular season, and Boston's Jayson Tatum, Milwaukee's Damian Lillard and Haliburton were hurt in the playoffs. Silver, speaking to ESPN as part of its NBA draft coverage, said there weren't any in the NBA in the previous season. "We had already convened a panel of experts before Tyrese's most recent Achilles rupture," Silver said on the telecast. "We had seven this year. We had zero last year under the exact same circumstances. The most we've ever had in a season is four."
Sources say Atlanta, meanwhile, is actively exploring ways to capitalize on a $25 million trade exception it still possesses as a vestige from last summer's Dejounte Murray trade to New Orleans. It's a tool that puts the Hawks in play for some potential sign-and-trade scenarios once the offseason begins in earnest.
Dejounte Murray: Gregg Popovich tried to move my mom to San Antonio with his own money after she got shot
Dejounte Murray on Gregg Popovich: So for me, he was like a father figure. There’s so many stories—if he were able to sit here and talk, he’d tell you: he’s never had a player come into his office and cry on his shoulder about how many murders he had to deal with back home in Seattle, how many funerals I had to pay for. It was so crazy—a lot of my people don’t even know this. From family, friends, and the penitentiary... Pop didn’t want me to go to Seattle. When I first got drafted, I wouldn’t go to Seattle. And that was a man who cared about me. That was a man who wanted me to reach my full potential in life first—then as a basketball player. He’s so real. He tried to move my mom to San Antonio with his own money after she got shot. My mom was shot in the leg my rookie year. He called her himself—without me knowing until after the fact. "We want to move you here." No—not with his money, with my money. That sounds like a dude that cares about me and loves me, right?
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Dejounte Murray: ’Cause I’m a fan just like everybody else is a fan. This is Greg Popovich. Won five championships. How many players has he helped outside of basketball? Just these conversations, just the hug—like: "I love you. I care about you." So to see him tell my mother those things— and even him telling me, "I just did that because I care about you. I care about her, and I know what bringing your mom to San Antonio where she’s safe would do for you—mentally." Just mentally. We didn’t even get to the basketball part. That’s what I took from that. He cared about me. He loved me—with his actions, not just his words.
Dejounte Murray: Why would I care about the guy that’s in Alaska right now messaging me saying I suck? This sh*t so real. I had my own father, when I got hurt, text me— because me and him ain’t cool—that somebody else was taking my spot when I was in San Antonio. No, this sh*t real. There’s a reason why I don’t get on these cameras, man. This sh*t real. Yeah, this sh*t is real. It’s nothing to play with. It’s not a joke. I’m healing. I’m trying to heal. I am. I really am. My kids need me. The youth need me.
When a man’s in and out of your life—you work to get to this place— I don’t know if it was when you tore your ACL in San Antonio or what... and your father, your biological father, messages you and says: “Yeah, somebody’s going to go get your spot.” What is your response to that? Dejounte Murray: I was hurt. Because I love him. And I know he loved me—like more of, I know he loved me, straight up. We might not have had the best relationship, and I never called him a deadbeat. He knows I love him, you know, at the end of the day. But I don’t know what makes a father say that.
I know you log in in the morning and send your messages to your family and friends that are in penitentiaries— How have you dealt with any survivor’s remorse or guilt being the one that made it? Dejounte Murray: Every day. Every day. Just talking to them. You know what I’m saying? It’s like—I know what we’ve done. I know what we was involved in. And like I said—accountability—that’s me. Accountability. That’s it and that’s all. I don’t have time to point fingers. Nah—it’s accountability. That’s the only way you’re able to grow. You make mistakes—and if you can’t take accountability for it, you’ll never grow. You know what I’m saying? Whatever it is. So, for me—it hurts me, you know? Because my partners—they’re not in jail for a year, five years, ten years— we’re talking about dudes in there for 20, 40, 60, 80.
Dejounte Murray: I never wanted nothing from them, from you, from anyone. It was, I’ma get it myself. And for me—it hurts me. Sometimes I go days where I don’t even want to answer the phone to talk to them because of the guilt. You know what I’m saying? I look at it like, Damn—they in prison. Or the others—they’re dead. Why? Why not me? What makes me so different than them? We were doing the same things.
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What message would you have for your 11-year-old self? Dejounte Murray: I wish I had a mom and a dad at that time— to guide me in the right way. I got children, man. It’s beautiful to be able to be a father now. Just beautiful—to be able to show them right from wrong, keep them away from negativity, but also teach them discipline. You know what I’m saying? All these different things. I’ve never been the guy to go back to tell my younger self anything. Kids are innocent. Kids are not asked to be in this world at all. You know what I’m saying? They’re innocent. Every single kid across the world is innocent. So it’s like—what can I really go back and tell myself? That was my environment. I was a product of my environment, right? My kids are a product of an environment that allows them to live in— a big house, go to private school, have a chef, have a nanny. You know what I’m saying? So the odds for them? They’ve got a pretty good shot at doing the right thing compared to 11-year-old Dejounte Murray.
Dejounte Murray: Mitch Johnson is the reason I’m here right now. He’s the guy that came and got me out of jail when I was 15
Dejounte Murray: He’s the reason why I’m here right now. Mitch Johnson is the reason I’m here right now. He’s the guy that came and got me out of jail when I was 15—with my uncle. Him and my uncle were best friends. Mitch Johnson created an AAU team for Dejounte Murray called A+. We went around the country. That’s how I built my name. That’s how I became a top recruit. That’s how I got all these scholarships—because of Miss Johnson. I put the work in, but— he opened his house. He took responsibility as a father, as a big brother—when he didn’t have to.
Dejounte Murray on his first year in New Orleans: When I was dealing with personal issues, the organization wasn’t giving me what I needed
During a guest appearance on “The Pivot Podcast,” Murray was incredibly critical of the Pelicans. While opening up about his personal issues at home, the 28-year-old guard called out New Orleans for the dysfunction he witnessed during his first season with the organization. “It was a situation where, like, I got all these problems going on… I broke my hand, I'm recovering. My mom had a stroke, one of my cousins got killed, then my uncle overdosed… [During all this] I'm not getting what I need in the organization. It's hard for me to get my training time. It's hard for me to get lifts. It's hard for me to get my own court time. So, you can only imagine where my mental was at.”
Willie Green facing internal scrutiny by Pelicans for playing Jose Alvarado over Dyson Daniels
The pain of Murray's limited availability, meanwhile, was only exacerbated by the rise of Dyson Daniels in Atlanta after the Pelicans included him in the Murray deal. As a Hawk, Daniels has emerged as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. And his rise has been a source of tension in the organization this season, with Green facing questions internally about his perceived past preferences for playing pesky guard Jose Alvarado rather than Daniels. Yet it must be noted that there were whispers about Green being in danger during the Pelicans' brutal 5-29 start ... especially after New Orleans had brought in former Hornets head coach James Borrego as Green's associate head coach. But he survived them. Green has been known known to hold significant support from Pelicans owner Gayle Benson.
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